The instant invention is generally directed to the field of archery and archery arrows and, more specifically, to the construction of vane structures used on archery arrows to control arrow flight.
An arrow with no vanes flies fast—however, it also flies erratically. To reduce erratic flight, archers necessarily sacrifice a certain amount of flight speed through the application of arrow vanes. Vanes, which may be constructed from natural feathers or synthetic materials, are typically mounted in a plurality arrangement, parallel to the aft end of an arrow shaft. Notably, loss of some flight speed due to drag and the added weight of the vanes is a necessary tradeoff to produce a certain amount of lift and side forces on the arrow. Advantageously, the lift and side forces introduced by vanes serve to stabilize an arrow's flight pattern by moving the center of pressure aftwards, thereby increasing shot accuracy.
Vanes also increase shot accuracy by introducing a spin motion to the flight of the arrow. For instance, spin is introduced by some vanes that have been fixed to the aft end of an arrow in an offset relative to the longitudinal axis of the arrow. In this way, as the arrow is projected forward on a path substantially in line with the arrow axis, the broad surface area of the vanes receive a force from the passing air that is translated to the arrow shaft on a vector offset from the arrow's longitudinal axis (i.e., a rolling moment), thereby causing the arrow to spin as it flies forward. Stiff material choices in vane construction mitigate deflection of the vanes in flight, thus optimizing the total rolling moment that can be produced.
Clearly, lighter vanes are desirable because they provide lift and side forces with a minimal addition of weight to slow flight speed. Also, stiffer vanes are desirable because they optimize the total rolling moment of an arrow. Therefore, what is needed in the art is an arrow vane constructed such that there is a decrease in overall vane weight without significantly sacrificing stiffness and without shrinking the physical profile of the vane. These needs, as well as other needs in the art, are addressed in the various embodiments of the invention as presented herein.